Political Quotes

On the recordJuly 22, 2015
I appreciate the leadership of my colleague from Ohio, who has brought such a focus on ending predatory activities, helping our financial system work for working Americans. Indeed, that is certainly what all of our effort is about on the fifth anniversary of the Wall Street reform bill, the Dodd-Frank bill. My colleague was talking about the Humble Home mortgage, which was turned into a predatory instrument that instead of building the wealth of the middle class of America was designed to strip that wealth. There was the two-year teaser rates in which interest rates would go from 4 percent to 9 percent, more than doubling. Liar loan underwritings, in which the loan is way too large for a family, were given to a family just to reap the immediate benefits on behalf of the mortgage broker: the immediate commissions, steering payments and kickbacks that were paid to mortgage originators to steer their clients from the prime loan they qualified for into the subprime loan. Now, thankfully, as the Senator from Ohio outlined, we have ended those predatory practices and we must not let those practices return. Homeownership has been the foundation for middle-class wealth-- homeownership, education, and good-paying jobs. We cannot take away homeownership as a significant part of the American dream, the dream to control your own space, the king or queen of your own castle, and certainly to build the equity that puts your family on a strong financial foundation.…
Said by
Jeff Merkley
Democratic · Oregon
Source
govinfo.gov
Jul 22, 2015

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